Phoenix — It was an all-Milwaukee affair at Maryvale Baseball Park on Wednesday afternoon, as the Milwaukee Brewers hosted the UW-Milwaukee Panthers in an exhibition game.

In the end, the Brewers beat the Panthers, 8-0, in a game that was closer than the final score would indicate. Facing their first college team since 1983 and UWM for the first time ever, the Brewers didn't pick up their first hit until the fourth inning before finally taking the lead later in the frame on a two-RBI single by Khris Davis.

They then added two runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to close out the scoring.

The major takeaways were both teams got their work done, there were no injuries and the Brewers provided the Panthers with a rare opportunity to match skills with major-league players.

"Just a phenomenal experience," UWM coach Scott Doffek said. "We've had this on the schedule for a year, year and a half, and you certainly have it circled. Every one of these guys are aspiring to get to this level. I think college athletics is all about experience and for these guys, you can't beat something like this — an opportunity to play in (the Brewers') home stadium and in front of the players these guys all look up to.

"They're like the rest of us; they can turn the TV on and watch all the games. It's just an honor. I can't thank the Brewers enough for allowing us to do this."

Brewers starter Mike Fiers took the ball and performed as would be expected from a No. 4 starter in any major-league rotation. He retired all six batters he faced and struck out four, including the side in the second inning.

The Panthers made him work in the first, however. Luke Meeteer went deep into the count before striking out to lead off, and No. 3 hitter Mitch Ghelfi was robbed of a potential single when Scooter Gennett made a diving stop of Ghelfi's grounder in the hole at second base.

"It seemed like they really wanted to win this game," Fiers said. "They've got a lot of grinders over there, a lot of guys on the plate taking some good swings."

Germantown's Brian Keller issued a one-out single in the first before getting Carlos Gomez to ground into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.

Right-hander Joe Pavlovic took over in the second and provided the highlight of the afternoon by matching Fiers and striking out the side swinging. Even more impressive was the fact the fifth-year senior transfer from UW-Oshkosh mowed through the trio of Adam Lind, Davis and Gerardo Parra with a fastball that Doffek said was clocked between 92 and 94 mph.

"It's an awesome experience," Pavlovic, a native of Denmark, Wis., said. "I just went out there and I did what I knew I was capable of doing. I just had to pound the zone. It was fun."

Said Brewers manager Ron Roenicke: "He had a nice fastball that had a little life on it. That was good to see for them, to have a guy come in there, facing the guys we did, making us look bad."

Pavlovic, who underwent Tommy John surgery in 2010, entered the day with a 9.72 earned run average and seven walks in two starts (81/3 innings) for the Panthers. Talk about your confidence booster.

"This helps a lot," he said. "In those first two starts, they were unusual for me. I'm not used to giving up runs, and it's nice to come out here and throw and get a little confidence boost going into Missouri."

UWM was actually the first team to collect a hit in the game, as Waukesha Catholic Memorial product Derek Peake singled up the middle off Taylor Jungmann in the fourth.

"Just battling out there against big-league-caliber pitchers was a challenge for us, but it was fun to come out of it with a hit," Peake said.

The Brewers, who removed most of their starters after the initial two innings, opened the scoring on Davis' two-out, two-RBI single in the bottom of the fourth.

Catcher Juan Centeno doubled the advantage with a two-out single in the sixth, giving the Brewers more than enough cushion the rest of the way.

Doffek, whose team came in with a 5-3 record, split a four-game series with Grand Canyon University before having another exhibition game against Aoyama Gakuin University of Japan rained out on Monday.

In all, he was able to get all his position players and nine pitchers into the game. UWM next heads to Missouri for a three-game weekend series but won't soon forget its experience in Phoenix.

"It shows us where we're at," Pavlovic said. "Those guys are getting paid a lot of money to play, and it shows us we could compete with them. It was, 8-0, but that doesn't say how the game went."

Asked if he'd like to play the Brewers again, Doffek left no doubt.

"I don't want to put the cart before the horse, but I know from an administrative standpoint it's something we'd like to do all the time," Doffek said. "The Brewers have been just phenomenal in the way they've treated us. It has been outstanding. I hope they felt like it went OK."

The Brewers, meanwhile, open Cactus League play Thursday by taking on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at 2 p.m. in Tempe.

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